New school technology policy makes this mom happy

You can’t tell from the heat, but summer is over. School starts Monday in Dallas ISD, and this year, school has a new twist (at least in some parts of our city).

As a mother of three young children, I find the start of school bittersweet. As my priest said at our wedding dinner, it’s the death of something and the birth of something new.

The end of summer means the end of weekday morning cartoons and cereal, the endless hours spent in the pool and ice cream on IV drips, the late nights spent on couches prepared for primetime Olympics coverage, our family vacations to Montana (which, I’m happy to report, rivaled my parents’ adventures when I was young).

A new school year also brings a new routine—one that establishes wake-up times, bedtimes, work, pick-ups, and activities. It’s a return to everyday socialization for children with people other than siblings and friends, and a welcome return to learning.

There’s another new thing this year that I’m grateful for: Our elementary school sent parents an updated technology policy. For the first year, smartphones, smartwatches, AirPods, and cell phones will be collected from a student’s classroom, placed in labeled bags, and kept until the end of the day.

And if you’re wondering how many 9-year-olds carry their phones to school, wear a wrist tracker, text in the hallway, and take pictures in the bathroom, the answer is: enough.

In the upper grades, the technology and distractions that students now face are almost ubiquitous. It makes no sense for smartphones to be locked away from sixth graders while fifth graders get unlimited pings from their parents. As such, the policy was announced for a block of schools—primary, middle, and high.

In an email to families, schools released the following rationale: “Research has shown that the use of smart devices such as cell phones, smart watches, and AirPods during school hours can significantly impact student achievement, behavior, mental health, and social interactions. … By removing access to these devices during school hours, we aim to create a more focused, supportive, and community-oriented environment for our students.”

The penalty for a first violation isn’t a $5 fine, as in the broader district policy. It’s a parent taking the device away. As a working parent who doesn’t need another trip to the school, that seems like a real deterrent.

It’s important to note that this change is happening from the ground up. Local schools are stepping in as larger governance structures move slowly. In my conversations with DISD, I learned that officials are launching a broader technology audit of the time students spend looking at screens, not just their smartphones but also how much of the curriculum, recess and extracurricular activities, such as gifted and talented programs, rely on screens.

There is no doubt that a broad technology audit is a welcome development, especially after the rapid escalation in screen use since 2020. But we don’t have to wait to take action on the smartphones, smartwatches, and AirPods that are distracting our students from the primary reason they are in school: learning.

In these pages, I’ve argued that I’d like to see Governor Greg Abbott provide safeguards against technology restrictions in schools like those we’re seeing in California. One response I’ve received is that if we had school choice, parents and students could choose a school with technology policies that fit their preferences. But actually, school choice, universal busing, and vouchers, as some conservatives envision, are a tall order. Its success or failure doesn’t hinge on eliminating smartphones from classrooms. We can push for bigger change while taking incremental steps forward.

Of course, the smartphone ban has its bittersweet side. There’s the loss for parents who can’t connect with their kids throughout the day, for students who can’t text their friends or get that dopamine rush of distraction.

But in its place something new and yet old is born: the classroom reclaimed as a place of learning. And from this learning come things we cannot yet imagine, achievements that distraction seeks to squander.

Whether you are saying goodbye to your children from school this week, or you are remembering with a bit of bitterness the times when you did it, or you are simply stopping at a crosswalk to let the neighborhood children quickly cross, we wish all our students, teachers, principals and parents a wonderful school year.

May the years 2024-2025 be filled with joyful learning, not phone calls.

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